Mel Pejic

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Mel Pejic (born 27 April 1959 in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, United Kingdom) is a former footballer and current physiotherapist of Wrexham A.F.C. and the Wales national football team. As a player, he played in the positions of full-back and centre-back for Stoke City, Hereford United and Wrexham.

He made his first team debut for Stoke in January 1980 against Ipswich Town, however he was released by Stoke at the end of the season. He signed for Hereford United where he spent the majority of his footballing career. Unfortunately a serious knee ligament injury hampered his first two seasons at Edgar Street. However in the next four seasons he missed only five matches and was voted Player of the Year for three successive seasons in 1983, 1984 and 1985. He later lifted the Welsh Cup for Hereford at Cardiff Arms Park.

He went on to make more appearances for Hereford United than any other player in the entire history of the club, a record which still stands today. In a 12 season stint, he made 523 competitive appearances, scoring 24 goals. Of these, 412 were in league matches where he also scored 14 goals. This record is unlikely to be beaten for the foreseeable future. Indeed the current longest serving player at Hereford is still over 200 league appearances away from Mel's record.

He was traded to Wrexham midway through the 1991-92 season, and went on to make over 100 league appearances for the Red Dragons.

One of Mel's sons, Shaun, currently plays for Wrexham, and his elder brother Mike was also a footballer.